tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33624629.post141051544633811535..comments2016-08-19T03:13:28.787-04:00Comments on Dan Shanoff: Saturday 12/06 (Very) Quickie: SEC ManiaDan Shanoffnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33624629.post-20310920656153935832008-12-06T15:03:00.000-05:002008-12-06T15:03:00.000-05:00Regarding O.J. Simpson and the sentence he got yes...Regarding O.J. Simpson and the sentence he got yesterday--Al Capone didn't go to prison for murder, racketeering, or any of his other "mob" activities. He went away for income tax evasion! Sometimes, justice is served, if a bit belatedly!<BR/><BR/>Countdown to the SEC championship game--1 hour. GO GATORS!!birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06089995293849314248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33624629.post-47479161697148780922008-12-06T14:33:00.000-05:002008-12-06T14:33:00.000-05:00The Blazers are looking good right now, but they a...The Blazers are looking good right now, but they aren't looking elite. You play that game in Boston ten times and they'd win maybe once. Boston and L.A. just look unstoppable. That classic matchup stuff was ok last year, but if we start having to choke it down repeatedly, it's gonna get old fast.Randvekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11361493501818705947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33624629.post-36264090131100922392008-12-06T11:52:00.000-05:002008-12-06T11:52:00.000-05:004pm? You're not excited about the VT-BC game?! A...4pm? You're not excited about the VT-BC game?! Also, what exactly does pound-for-pound mean? I assume the point is that Clemens is better than Maddux because he weighs more, or alternatively, you're afraid to just say that Maddux is the best, which he obviously is. I also not sure what "our generation" means, but I was born in '84, so I barely remember Clemens in Boston and don't remember his great early years there. So for me, Clemens was the guy who pitched for Toronto that got talked about a lot, then he went to the Yankees and Piazza threw a bat at him, then he went to the Astros and had a couple really great seasons, then he became baseball's Brett Favre, except he did what Favre should have done and waited until the middle of the year to sign with a team. Clemens wasn't even the best pitcher in the AL during my baseball watching life (Randy Johnson) except for the very end of his career, which was, obviously, tainted (side note: I don't care at all about steroids, and think players should be able to do whatever they want). But for the purposes of comparing players, steroids are relevant. Also, as someone who never had a great fastball and liked to throw junk, Maddux was much more fun to watch. So I guess the point of this rambling, poorly conceived comment is drop the "pound-for-pound". Also, boomer sooner.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17822839285669075962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33624629.post-11861271453744285522008-12-06T11:25:00.000-05:002008-12-06T11:25:00.000-05:00My brother-in-law once made an observation (as a y...My brother-in-law once made an observation (as a young boy) that I find appropriate to this endless "game of the year/decade/century/whatever" talk. He was looking at a flyer from JCPenny proclaiming their "Biggest Sale of the Year!" and he said, "Yeah, until their next 'Biggest Sale of the Year!"<BR/><BR/>Of course, the Florida-Alabama game is probably one of the biggest games of this year; big games at the end of the year are invariably bigger than the big games at the beginning of the year (*cough-OSU-USC-cough*), by virtue of their being at the end of the year and having an entire season's-worth of games and insta-history behind them, plus the immediate <I>actual</I> title-game ramifications (again, *cough-OSU-USC-cough*).<BR/><BR/>In reality, though, I cannot see how one could possibly argue that this is bigger (or smaller) than games like the OSU-Michigan game of '06 or whatever other game of the century you prefer. Whether we've got the BCS or a playoff, each college season is a universe unto itself, with the previuse season or two hanging around in the ether. It's hard to really compare Big Games in different seasons, because the universes are totally different.<BR/><BR/>The grown-up' table? Really? That smacks a bit of SEC-homerism, to me, which seems a bit out of place in this conversation. That game, which had hype leading into it that dwarfs anything we will see for the Florida-Alabama game, so it's a bit near-sighted of you to relegate that '06 version of the sesason-ending quasi-playoff game to some lesser, kids'-table status, don't you think?<BR/><BR/>What's great about college football is that the participants are not grown-ups, but kids. Putting a grown-up spin on today's game almost tones down its epic nature. After all, kids (and the childlike in spirit, as most true CFB fans are) are prone to embellishing the relative importance or epic-ness of a given game; saying this is the grown-ups' table makes it too serious, too unnecessarily adult. It makes it too close to the tasteless, humorless, totalitarian state that is the NFL, and that's no good.<BR/><BR/>Your conclusion, though, saves you, here. They're both Big--no, EPIC--games, so let's leave it at that.<BR/><BR/>I live in Buffalo, now (by marriage), so I was glad to see UB win that game, both for UB and for Gil, specifically. I'll be watching his career with interest, to be sure.<BR/><BR/>As for Maddux: I'm glad I got to see him pitch once, because I don't think I'll see another like him again. Maybe ever. As a parent, I appreciate his lack of ego and pure, youthful enjoyment of the game. He gave kids a fantastic example of how sports are meant to be approached, and just as much for his genius, he should be remembered for that.Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15962777687901447315noreply@blogger.com